Injuries to the lower leg and foot area are common in sports such as football, hockey and rugby. For example, during a game of football, injury commonly results from collision between player's feet and legs during a tackle. It is known in the art to provide shin pads, and apparatus and methods are known for facilitating the fitting and use of such shin pads:
International Publication Number WO 2007/064995 (LUEKING) describes a sock with compression sections provided for holding shin pads in position along a player's shin.
French Patent Publication Number FR 2927772 (SOK FABRICE) describes a sports sock provided with ‘scratch’ parts (hook and loop/Velcro® fasteners) on the inside of the sock. A shin pad is provided with complementary scratch parts on its exterior surface allowing the sock and shin pad to be detachably attached to one another.
Disadvantageously, these arrangements merely describe ways in which existing shin pads can be held at the correct place on the upper shin. Additional they do not consider how to provide protection anywhere else apart from the upper shin. In particular, the ankle, lower shin and metatarsal areas of the lower leg are unprotected by shin pads and so still prone to injury. It will be appreciated that this is not an insignificant issue as one of the most common injuries in football is a fracture of the metatarsals.
Protective gear that can protect areas such as the ankle, the lower shin and metatarsal areas are also known, for example:
United States Patent Publication Number US 2009/205097 (MANNING) describes a soccer sock having a pad stitched therein, designed to absorb impact forces suffered by the upper metatarsal and ankle area of the foot.
United Kingdom Patent Publication Number GB 2460019 (NIESIOLOWSKI) describes a metatarsal/dorsum protector comprising a moulded pad shaped to fit over the top of the foot. A pad is provided specifically for each left and right foot, and is sandwiched in place between two socks. The pad only covers the metatarsal/dorsum area of the foot, and does not provide any ankle protection.
However, no single device addresses several shortcomings that have persisted in the art:
Firstly, no solution is proposed that provides integrated protection for all of the vulnerable areas of the lower leg—specifically, the metatarsal area, the ankle, the lower shin and the upper shin.
Secondly, sports players tend not to wear protective gear to protect vulnerable regions of the lower leg that need to flex or bend during player movement. Affordable, generic “off-the-shelf” devices are not tailored specifically to the size, shape and range of movement of an individual player, and so typically hinder movement or may be uncomfortable to wear. On the other hand, devices that are tailored specifically to each player do not lend themselves easily to low-cost mass-production.
Thirdly, protective devices for such regions of the lower leg can take a long time to fit properly, dissuading players against their use.
Fourthly, such protective devices cannot be immediately reused as shin pads can be—in particular, pads that are integral with sports socks and the like need to be washed before reuse.
It is against the present background that the present invention has been devised.